Church Abuse Victims Call for Government to Step in, by Barney Zwartz, The Age, September 3, 2011

Church Abuse Victims Call for Government to Step in

By Barney Zwartz
The Age
September 3, 2011

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/church-abuse-victims-call-for-government-to-step-in-20110902-1jq94.html

The 66-page letter by the Melbourne Victims\' Collective claims some abusers have remained in contact with communities and families.

THIRTY victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests in Melbourne yesterday asked the Victorian government to investigate the church's handling of complaints, claiming it perverted the course of justice and bullied victims.

Their 66-page letter to Attorney-General Robert Clark is the third call for an independent public inquiry in three weeks. Earlier this week, Sydney University law professor Patrick Parkinson asked the government to look into the Salesian religious order and last month barrister Vivian Waller sought an inquiry into the abuse in Ballarat that has led to at least 26 suicides.

The latest call, by the Melbourne Victims' Collective, claims that since the Melbourne Catholic archdiocese launched its own complaints system in 1996, the Melbourne Response, it has suppressed the reporting to police of serious crimes and bullied vulnerable victims.

The letter says: "Victims, professionals, members of the church and wider community see these dynamics as an obstruction of justice and/or breaches of ethical professional practice that require urgent action. We are ready to submit documented evidence."

Melbourne Victims' Collective spokeswoman and victims' advocate Helen Last said: "The church and its so-called independent commissioner [Peter O'Callaghan, QC] has not reported serious sexual offences by serial offenders and has failed to advise victims of the seriousness of the assaults so they don't report them to police. If the government doesn't take this on board and act responsibly, then they will share responsibility for the next assault."

The letter from the collective - which comprises more than 30 victims, plus a dozen independent expert practitioners including lawyers and psychologists - lists 110 clergy it says have been convicted or credibly accused in Melbourne since 1963. It claims some abusers have remained in contact with communities and families, with access to children and vulnerable adults. The letter says the collective's experience of abuse goes back to 1948, across the tenure of five archbishops, and systemic abuses are more observable in the 15 years since the Melbourne Response was introduced.

It says if an accused church person denies abuse occurred, the commissioner holds a hearing at which the victim is "discouraged" from bringing a lawyer. Supporters are also often blocked so that victims are alone with the abuser and the commissioner, arguing about their traumatic experiences. Victims are further dissuaded from going to police because when they do the church investigation stops, making access to counselling and psychological help uncertain, it says.

According to the collective's letter, police say the commissioner has made no reports to them in the 15 years he has had the role. The letter also criticises the Melbourne Response's cap on compensation at $75,000. It says some victims have been offered just $15,000 for repeated molestation as a child, or $10,000 for repeated adult sexual abuse.

Archbishop Denis Hart has defended the church's Melbourne Response system. The archdiocese has previously replied to such criticisms by saying victims are always encouraged to report their complaints to the police and that the independent commissioner fully co-operates with police investigations, but sometimes complainants do not want to go to the police.